


To Be Held

by punchbowls



Category: IT (1990), IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 07:14:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22012117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punchbowls/pseuds/punchbowls
Summary: Eddie has a nightmare and Richie comforts him!// there's! not! enough! 1990s movie! reddie! i Will Die unless I get content so I guess I gotta make it myself
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 7
Kudos: 111





	To Be Held

**Author's Note:**

> not beta read and written in a tired-after-work-and-an-emotional-meltdown haze, i hope you enjoy!

_The pressure of his mother's arms around him was too much. He whimpered and squirmed._

_"Ma, please let go," he begged._

_"You're sick Eddie dear, I can't let you go. If I let you go, you'll run off and hurt yourself."_

_Her arms tightened around his sides and he gasped for air._

_"I can't- I can't breathe- Ma, you're suffocating me," he choked._

_"Trust in me Eddie,_ _**believe** _ _in me."_

_His mother's voice changed as she spoke, a slight his here and a gurgle there. Eddie looked up at her and jerked his head backwards as she changed into a massive spider. The creature still had his mother's head, but her hair and nose were a bright shade of red._

_"This is for your own good," It said._

_Eddie screamed as the monster's pincers squeezed and dug into his sides. His feet kicked uselessly through open air in his futile attempts to escape the grip._

_"You have to stay close to me, Eddie," It said, drawing him closer to the grotesque face._

_"No! No! Please, no!"_

_"Yes, Eds. You'll never leave, Eds-"_

_"Eddie! Eds!"_

Eddie woke up screaming. Arms encircled him and he struggled under them.

"Let go of me! Let go!" he screamed.

He blindly flung himself forward once the grip loosened. He stumbled off of the bed and frantically crawled to the wall. His back slammed against it and he drew his knees to his chest. He gripped his hair and choked on a sob.

There was a creak and the blurry sight of Richie's face appeared before him.

"You're safe, Eddie, it was a nightmare," he said softly.

Eddie hiccups and Richie started to reach for him, but he pressed himself hard against the wall.

"Please don't-I-I can't, I just can't." Eddie's voice broke several times, along with Richie's heart as he watched.

More sobs fell from Eddie's mouth and he dipped his head against his knees. 

"I'm gonna take a seat next to you, ok? I won't touch you," Richie said, but Eddie hardly heard it. His friend moved silently to sit next to him. There was space between them, but Richie was close enough to quickly close the gap.

After a few moments of silence, Richie spoke again. "You want to talk about it, Spaghetti Man?"

Eddie didn't know. He tried to tell Richie that, but his breath caught in his throat. And it stayed caught. He inhaled, but the air or his lungs wouldn't cooperate. They could, there was no reason that they shouldn't.

The words ' _you're sick, Eddie_ ' floated through his mind, resurfacing with the the face his nightmare had supplied.

"Whoa, Eddie, hang on there."

Richie moved and came back, offering Eddie his inhaler. In a surge of emotion, Eddie grabbed it and threw it. It hit the other wall with a crack and fell to pieces on the floor. The look on Richie's face immediately threw him in a pit of guilt and he sobbed out an apology.

"I'm sorry, Richie- I-I'm sorry, I j-just-"

"Geez man, settle down, you're starting to sound like Bill. And anyway it's _okay_ , you don't have anything to be sorry for. Now just breathe with me, alright, Spaghetti Man?"

After a few minutes, Eddie drew in and exhaled a long, shuddering few breaths and Richie smiled at him.

"There you go."

Eddie sniffled and fell against the taller man, who caught him easily. He pressed the side of his face into Richie's chest as he felt kisses planted into the top of his head. He had finished sobbing, but tears continued to fall silently as Richie's arms looped around him loosely and words of comfort were murmured. He liked being in Richie's arms. He comfortably fit there, and always had the freedom to leave and return.

He felt safer in Richie's arms than he ever had in his mother's.

"Thank you," Eddie said, voice barely loud enough to be heard.

"Anytime, Eddie," Richie replied, "I love you."

"I love you too."

They stayed there in silence for a few more minutes until Richie rubbed Eddie's shoulder.

"My ass is getting cold on this floor. Can we get back in bed?"

Eddie breathed a small laugh and nodded, pushing himself off of Richie. But before he could stand, Richie swept him off his feet to carry him. He yelped in surprise, but wrapped his arms around Richie's neck. For a moment, they pressed their foreheads to each other and rubbed their noses together.

"Now my toes are getting cold standing here," Richie mumbled.

Eddie giggled as Richie set- dropped him- onto the bed. They crawled under the covers and Richie pulled Eddie closer so that his head could rest on his chest.

"You wanna talk about it?" Richie asked again, running his fingers through Eddie's hair.

"My mother turned into It. Or It turned into my mother," he said softly. Then he continued between pauses. "She was holding me, and wouldn't let go... she was suffocating me."

Eddie swallowed and Richie lifted his hand from his head.

"Then she turned into It... and it was like it was crushing me again, but it had her face," he continued. A few more tears slipped down his face to spot Richie's t-shirt. "It hurt."

"I'm sorry," whispered Richie.

Eddie didn't answer except for pulling Richie's arm down until his hand was on his side. He laced their fingers together.

"I'm sorry," Richie said again, and Eddie frowned, "If I had done it differently instead of just jumping in with Bill and Ben-"

"Sshh, Richie." Eddie turned his head slightly to look up at him, brows furrowed. "It's not your fault."

Richie met his eyes and they too, were rimmed with red.

"If you're going to feel that bad about it, you can stop calling me 'Spaghetti Man' and every variation, to make up for it."

Richie laughed and Eddie smiled against him.

"I love you," Eddie said, then added quietly, "I'd do it a hundred times over if it meant you were safe."

"I'm glad you won't ever have to again," Richie said.

He slid down so that Eddie's head was at his shoulder and they could wrap each other up in their arms. And wrap each other up in their arms they did. Eddie's eyelids grew heavy once more, exhausted from the nightmare and crying, but he fell asleep peacefully as Richie pressed his lips against his forehead and held him close.

**Author's Note:**

> im somft


End file.
